The Official FM 2008 Chelsea Thread

Chelsea Football Club are an English professional football club based in west London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier in English football.

Honours

First Division/Premier League:

1954–55, 2004–05, 2005–06

Second Division/Championship:

1983–84, 1988–89

FA Cup:

1970, 1997, 2000, 2007

League Cup:

1965, 1998, 2005, 2007

FA Charity Shield/Community Shield:

1955, 2000, 2005

Full Members Cup:

1986, 1990

European

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:

1971, 1998

European Super Cup:

1998

Squad

1 GK Petr ÄŒech

3 DF Ashley Cole

4 MF Claude Makélélé

5 MF Michael Essien

6 DF Ricardo Carvalho

7 FW Andriy Shevchenko

8 MF Frank Lampard (vice-captain)

9 MF Steve Sidwell

10 MF Joe Cole

11 FW Didier Drogba

12 MF John Obi Mikel

13 MF Michael Ballack

14 FW Claudio Pizarro

15 MF Florent Malouda

17 FW Scott Sinclair

18 DF Wayne Bridge

20 DF Paulo Ferreira

21 FW Salomon Kalou

22 DF Tal Ben-Haim

23 GK Carlo Cudicini

24 MF Shaun Wright-Phillips

26 DF John Terry (captain)

33 DF Alex

35 DF Juliano Belletti

40 GK Henrique Hilário

Transfer Budget: £30m

Wage Budget: £2m p/w

Key players: ÄŒech, Terry, Lampard, Essien, Drogba.

Expectations: Challenge for title.

i got rid of lampard and sheva for 30 and 20M respectively. thats a huge chunk saved off the wage bill, which was then converted to transfer money.

Van der vaart is a lot better ingame than lampard imo, and at 40k a week hes also a whole lot cheaper . Money made off lampard and sheva was then used to buy Martins, Nigel de Jong, Micah Richards, Van der Vaart and Podolski.

There is no way I would get rid of Lampard. Aside from Terry, he's the heart of the team.

As TheRandomGuy mentioned, the key players are Cech, Terry, Lampard, Essien and Drogba. However, I wouldn't sell Mikel, Joe Cole, Malouda, Kalou or Ashley Cole either.

Those players are the core of the team that I would build my squad around.

I'm currently playing a 4-3-3 formation with two wide strikers more acting as wings (Joe Cole and Malouda), one striker (Drogba), two central midfielders (Lampard and Mikel), a defensive midfielder (Essien) and a flat four (Belletti, Terry, Carvalho and Cole) which works very well.

Especially Lampard has been amazing with 9 goals in 10 games from midfield.

I don't really think there are need for strengthening the squad right now, but my main priorities would probably be a DC and a DR and betting rid of Alex/Ben Haim and Ferreira/Belletti.

Btw, what's up with Sinclair looking so bad?

How did you get Micah Richards? i offered 25 M and they reject..

Ive just sold Drogba and selling Lamps & Sheva, TO get money up, Ive signed martins, Rafa Van Der Vaart , and im looking at podolski and Aguero

Originally posted by Jack Edwards:

How did you get Micah Richards? i offered 25 M and they reject..

Yeah, I was looking to buy him too, but they wanted 32.5 mio which I don't think he's worth.

Im going to try Over how many months..

Is the real game out yet? im playing the demo

Im snooping around at farfan now of PSV, Good stats and at 15 M i like him, ill play malouda on the right and Farfan on the left

they accepted 28M over 24 months for Richards in my game.

dont get me wrong, lampard has been great for Chelsea irl, but in game he doesn't perform anywhere near the same level as VDV.

At the moment VDV is my leading Premiere league scorer and has 12 goals and 6 assists from 19 games.

Drogba has 14 goals and 7 assists from 25 games.

And Podolski's on 7 goals and 9 assists from 21. Martins has been injured a fair bit and has only got 5 goals.

Preferred formation is 4-4-2-diamond.

another player ive been impressed by is Goran Pandev from Lazio. great stats, and he relishes important matches. costs the same as podolski (12-14M) but is A LOT better. ( was experimenting with him in a Barca game)

My signings so far have been

Ins:

Obafemi Martins -- 24 M

Rafa Van Der Vaart --

Outs:

Drogba--- 25 M

Lampard -- 20 M + Marcelo

Currently looking at Farfan, and maybe another right-back, Richards is really good but ill see..

dude you paid WAY too much for martins ...

14.5M over 24 months is what i paid.

also check out Pandev before u buy farfan. he cost me 14M on my barca game and has insane stats, on par with Eto'o

Pandev is a striker, Farfan will go on the wing, Pandev will go up front in stead of Pizzaro

Out of interest, how, and who to, did you sell Shevchenko for 20 mio, insai?

I don't want to play the demo that much, but when the full game is released I'll probably be looking into players like Richards, Silva (looks amazing), Sergio Ramos, Pandev and a couple of youngsters like Breno and Alex.

I know, he's really hard to sell

Farfan rejected me for totenham, Hope he rots there with Jol, Meh! Lol

Signed Pandev, and in his first game for the Community Sheild he scored a hat-trick and martins scored 1.

Game ended up 4-1 to me!

he signed for fiorentina

he blackmailed me into paying him 19k a week until 2010 or he wouldn't leave lol.

i used the old trick of transfer listing him as "not needed by club" and leaving his asking price at $0. next day i had around 12 teams interested in him. i offered him to all clubs for 20M. Roma and Fiorentina accepted of the 12 and he agreed to sign as long as i paid him 19k a week :/

Originally posted by Jack Edwards:

Im snooping around at farfan now of PSV, Good stats and at 15 M i like him, ill play malouda on the right and Farfan on the left

malouda is an leftfooted player don't use him on the right mate

Glad we've got a good Chelsea thread this year, last years thread was pretty dead.

When the full game comes out i'll definitely be looking at signing Silva, Micah Richards and a striker, perhaps podolski or aguero.

Scott Sinclair should've been improved much more than he has been

I started a game as Chelsea, playing a very solid 4-3-3. I bought in Samir Nasri (20m), Amauri (12m) and Cristian Zaccardo (12.25m).

I sold Shevshenko for a measley £6m, and loaned out SWP & Sidwell.

First 11:

Cech

Zaccardo Terry Carvalho Cole

Nasri Essien Mikel

Kalou Malouda

Drogba

Kalou is playing great 5 goals & 2 assists in 6 games. Drogba is a complete beast, 7 goals and 3 assists in 5(1) games. Nasri has 5 assists in 5 games.

Played 5 in the league so far, we are top after winning all - scoring 14 and conceeding 0

Nice, id buy a better back-up keeper then Cudiccini

Season Update!

Played 2 premierleague games so far, and ive got to say im owning this league, Rafael Van Der Vaart is a genius, and im glad i let go of drogba and lampard as my replacements are class.

Ins:

Rafael Van Der Vaart

Micah Richards

Goran Pandev

Obafemi Martins

Samir Nasri

Marcelo

Outs:

Frank Lampard

Didier Drogba

Andriy Shevchenko

I was thinking about buying another RM to replace J.Cole, Should i ? I have 55 M Left..

What is going on? Why is everyone selling their best players and buying replacements which are even worse?

Jack Edwards: why would you sell Lampard and Drogba and buy Martins and VDV as replacements? Really, I just don't get it.. Selling the core of your team and then buying someone else when the players you had were atleast equally as good?

Well I guess everyone is playing their own way, but I can't imagine any real Chelsea fan selling Lampard and Drogba..

Lampard On Drogba, are REALLLY underperformers On FM, I only sold them because RVDV Is AMAZING , and martins has 10 goals in 6 games..

PFFT

I've so far bought in Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (£15m) and Dani Alves (£41.5m release clause) and sold Paulo Ferreira to Palermo (£3.2m). So far beaten United 2-1 in the CS, 5hanks to Essien and a Drogba wondergoal and Blackburn 4-0 in the league thanks to a Lampard penalty and a Huntelaar hat-trick.

Originally posted by TheRandomGuy:

I've so far bought in Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (£15m) and Dani Alves (£41.5m release clause) and sold Paulo Ferreira to Palermo (£3.2m). So far beaten United 2-1 in the CS, thanks to Essien and a Drogba wondergoal and Blackburn 4-0 in the league thanks to a Lampard penalty and a Huntelaar hat-trick.

Fixed

I got in Cannavaro and Poulsen ... Didn't manage to sell any players arghhh

Teach me how to sell them please ..

Looking to sell Ferreira, Sidwell, etc

Trying to get a speedy striker, recommendations?

Originally posted by insai:

they accepted 28M over 24 months for Richards in my game.

dont get me wrong, lampard has been great for Chelsea irl, but in game he doesn't perform anywhere near the same level as VDV.

At the moment VDV is my leading Premiere league scorer and has 12 goals and 6 assists from 19 games.

Drogba has 14 goals and 7 assists from 25 games.

And Podolski's on 7 goals and 9 assists from 21. Martins has been injured a fair bit and has only got 5 goals.

Preferred formation is 4-4-2-diamond.

another player ive been impressed by is Goran Pandev from Lazio. great stats, and he relishes important matches. costs the same as podolski (12-14M) but is A LOT better. ( was experimenting with him in a Barca game)

I can't seem to get Richards no matter how much I pay ..

Originally posted by insai:

dude you paid WAY too much for martins ...

14.5M over 24 months is what i paid.

also check out Pandev before u buy farfan. he cost me 14M on my barca game and has insane stats, on par with Eto'o

Same for martins ...

Offer 24M, He should come, and trust me he is AMAZING with Pandev.

I signed Nasri and Berbatov, Im playing a 3-4-3

Can you guys tell me the price of these players:

(1)Pandev

(2)Martins

(3)Richards

(4)Berbatov

(5)Nasri

(6)Van der Vaart?

Thanks

My squad now.

GK: Cech, Cudicini, Kameni

DF: Belleti, Richards, Alex, JT, Ricardo Carvalho, Tal Ben Haim, Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge

MF: Jon Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Makelele, Malouda, Stewart Downing, Joe Cole, Shaun Wright Philips, VDV

CF: Martins, Shevchenko, Drogba, Pizzaro, Kalou

Rampaging through the Premiership comfortably, winning all games and drawing 1.

In reply to nch, I unsettled the targets first before making a bid and I made multiple bids with a small increment each time so sooner or later the players would become unhappy and complain to their manager.

I got VDV for around 14 mill iirc, Martins for 12 mill, Richards for 20 mill. Can't remember the exact prices but there you go, around those figures. Tried to get Berbatov, went up to 30 mill but rejected. Due to Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea being rivals I guess.

Oh I got a pretty big squad now tbh but Makelele is just being a tutor to my younger players and I am looking to let go of Ballack soon as well as VDV and Lampard are both better imo. Kalou is fluctuating between midfield and attack as well.

bought richards, pazzini, marcelo and aguero...n sold sheva...gosh...the prices of players r increasing!

Signings :

1. Pandev

2. Richards

3. Martins

4. Van der Vaart

5. Nasri

6. Aaritalo

7. Marcelo

8. Ignashevich

Sidwell gone PSV on loan ... Not any player sold, yet

P.S. Just thrashed MU 4:1

Set to sign Modric

Just had my first defeat , a 3-2 loss at Villa Park (well we always lose there irl ) with Drogba scoring both of ours. Before that a comfortable 2-0 win over Derby with Drogba and Malouda on scoresheet, marred by a Carvalho red due to a professional foul and a 4-0 win over Man City (Huntelaar x2, Essien x2).

As for everyone else, may I ask why you are buying so many players already? The squad is already brilliant at the start and only really needs a new right-back and maybe a new striker to replace Shevchenko.

Originally posted by No.25:

What is going on? Why is everyone selling their best players and buying replacements which are even worse?

Jack Edwards: why would you sell Lampard and Drogba and buy Martins and VDV as replacements? Really, I just don't get it.. Selling the core of your team and then buying someone else when the players you had were at least equally as good?

Well I guess everyone is playing their own way, but I can't imagine any real Chelsea fan selling Lampard and Drogba..

simple reason. i can sell lampard for 30 mil, then purchase VDV, who plays the same if not better, at a fraction of the price and pay him the fraction of the salary. this frees up more transfer and wage funds.

personally i wouldn't sell drogba, but sheva is on 120K a week or something. hes a no brainer to get rid of since hes just plain "not needed".

btw, im not a chelsea fan My team is a wee little team in Fiji called Lautoka FC. Obviously that teams not going to be ingame so as a fan of football i just play with whichever team offers me the best game. I chose Chelsea as my guinea pig team since they have the most funds to work with, when the full games released ill probably start with a lower league team and work my way up.

Originally posted by TheRandomGuy:

Just had my first defeat , a 3-2 loss at Villa Park (well we always lose there irl ) with Drogba scoring both of ours. Before that a comfortable 2-0 win over Derby with Drogba and Malouda on scoresheet, marred by a Carvalho red due to a professional foul and a 4-0 win over Man City (Huntelaar x2, Essien x2).

As for everyone else, may I ask why you are buying so many players already? The squad is already brilliant at the start and only really needs a new right-back and maybe a new striker to replace Shevchenko.

Good but not as brilliant as you say. A new backup keeper to replace the aging Cudicini, a new RB since I don't trust PF to do the job anymore, a natural left winger for backup to Malouda, a young talented midfielder to replace the aging Makelele and Ballack and of course a new striker since we only have 3 (Kalou not a natural striker).

Am I the only person here that hates Ashley Cole? I can't stand him, prob the first player out the door when I start my game as Chelsea. I am looking forward to bringing back Del Horno or maybe even Lahm to replace Cole.

As for the striker, Adriano seems like a nice option to replace Schevchenko. And for the right back, I would want someone like Maicon but I believe he will be too expensive. What do you guys think about Nicolas Burdisso? He can play all over the backline and has 19 for jumping and heading.

Also, Steve Clarke will definitely get the sacking as I can't stand him either. If only we could bring back Mourinho as the assman or maybe even Ranieri or Wiese hahaha.

Originally posted by ubos:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TheRandomGuy:

Just had my first defeat , a 3-2 loss at Villa Park (well we always lose there irl ) with Drogba scoring both of ours. Before that a comfortable 2-0 win over Derby with Drogba and Malouda on scoresheet, marred by a Carvalho red due to a professional foul and a 4-0 win over Man City (Huntelaar x2, Essien x2).

As for everyone else, may I ask why you are buying so many players already? The squad is already brilliant at the start and only really needs a new right-back and maybe a new striker to replace Shevchenko.

Good but not as brilliant as you say. A new backup keeper to replace the aging Cudicini, a new RB since I don't trust PF to do the job anymore, a natural left winger for backup to Malouda, a young talented midfielder to replace the aging Makelele and Ballack and of course a new striker since we only have 3 (Kalou not a natural striker). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ballack isn't that old, so i don't think he needs replacing until at least a few seasons in. Plus Steve Sidwell will do a good job as a backup to Essien, Obi Mikel, and Lampard.

Cudicini is a legend at the club, why would you want to replace him haha. We also have Hilario in the reserves anyway and he isn't that bad.

Originally posted by themavsman:

Am I the only person here that hates Ashley Cole? I can't stand him, prob the first player out the door when I start my game as Chelsea. I am looking forward to bringing back Del Horno or maybe even Lahm to replace Cole.

As for the striker, Adriano seems like a nice option to replace Schevchenko. And for the right back, I would want someone like Maicon but I believe he will be too expensive. What do you guys think about Nicolas Burdisso? He can play all over the backline and has 19 for jumping and heading.

Also, Steve Clarke will definitely get the sacking as I can't stand him either. If only we could bring back Mourinho as the assman or maybe even Ranieri or Wiese hahaha.

I wouldn't sell A. Cole. Why do you hate him? He's a great player, and with Bridge as backup, there's no need for strenghtening the LB spot.

I agree with Adriano, though. I'll probably sell Shevchenko in the first season and bring in Adriano on a 1 year loan deal until I find someone I really like.

On the other hand, is a new SC really needed? We've got both Drogba and Pizarro and I'm going to play with a lone striker, so I don't think it'll be needed. If everything goes wrong you could even play Kalou upfront.

I agree that the RB is quite a problem and I really don't know who to bring in. Daniel Alves is probably the best bet for me.

I'm looking at Moutinho for the MC spot right now. He's a Fabregas type of player, staying back and controlling the game whilst Lampard/Mikel/Essien goes forward. I really like VDV also, but I think he's too much alike with Lamps.

Well I always hated Arsenal, and I just can't find myself liking A.Cole since he hated him when he played for Arsenal.

I might also look for someone like Pablo Aimar to backup Lampard in attack. He looks quality although a bit old.

Originally posted by themavsman:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ubos:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TheRandomGuy:

Just had my first defeat , a 3-2 loss at Villa Park (well we always lose there irl ) with Drogba scoring both of ours. Before that a comfortable 2-0 win over Derby with Drogba and Malouda on scoresheet, marred by a Carvalho red due to a professional foul and a 4-0 win over Man City (Huntelaar x2, Essien x2).

As for everyone else, may I ask why you are buying so many players already? The squad is already brilliant at the start and only really needs a new right-back and maybe a new striker to replace Shevchenko.

Good but not as brilliant as you say. A new backup keeper to replace the aging Cudicini, a new RB since I don't trust PF to do the job anymore, a natural left winger for backup to Malouda, a young talented midfielder to replace the aging Makelele and Ballack and of course a new striker since we only have 3 (Kalou not a natural striker). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ballack isn't that old, so i don't think he needs replacing until at least a few seasons in. Plus Steve Sidwell will do a good job as a backup to Essien, Obi Mikel, and Lampard.

Cudicini is a legend at the club, why would you want to replace him haha. We also have Hilario in the reserves anyway and he isn't that bad. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just me I guess, but I usually don't really trust a player to do the job once he reaches past the age of 29 or 30. I know that is their so called peak period but I prefer players in their 25 or 26 years of age.

Cudicini is a legend for us, only cost 400 k and was a solid first choice keeper till Cech came, deserves all the credit he can get but I usually get a new young keeper to rotate with him, such as Marcelo Grohe and Craig Gordon.

And I don't trust Sidwell either. Don't believe he is in Chelsea's league of players at all in the game ofc.

Originally posted by themavsman:

Well I always hated Arsenal, and I just can't find myself liking A.Cole since he hated him when he played for Arsenal.

I might also look for someone like Pablo Aimar to backup Lampard in attack. He looks quality although a bit old.

And VDV >>> Pablo Aimar any day in FM 08. VDV has just simply become more amazing as compared to 07 imo.

I always want a bit of variety in my team. No fun signing players that everyone and their dogs signed, it's just me.

Btw, I wonder how much Riquelme will cost as he looks brilliant and has been in the doghouse at Villarael recently. Wouldn't mind signing Riquelme to partner Lampard and Essien in the centre of the park.

Which youngsters do you think will be able to cut it at high level?

Like on '07 I don't think we have many talented youngsters.

Ben Sahar is probably the greatest prospect of the lot, with Sinclair criminally underrated.

Mancienne also looks like a potential first teamer, but again he probably won't have a high enough PA to really excell.

Then there's Rajkovic who looks like he'll be able to compete for the leftback spot in a few years, and maybe even Bertrand has what it takes?

In the U18's the only one I think will be able to cut it, is Michael Woods.

What do you think? We'll have to bring in some talented youngsters - preferably english - for the future, at least.

yeah the chelsea youth team seemed distinctly lacking in terms of quality. you would think with all those millions they would be able to attract a few decent youngsters

Signed Modric

Spent 59 million altogether!

I'm doing great with signings!

Daniel Alves for 1 million !!!!

(40 mil over 24 months)